Leaked Memo Indicates Hulu CEO Being Replaced

Posted Aug 20, 2012

I have to give Hulu CEO Jason Kilar a lot of credit. He was able to work with traditional media companies that often have a lot of red tape and bring them into the digital world. Kilar was able to get Fox, NBC, and ABC to post their content on a website for free with ads as part of a “YouTube killer” a few years ago. Many critics thought it would be impossible to pull it off, including myself. This is why I thought it was sad to hear that a new Hulu CEO is being sought after. This is based on a memo that was leaked to Variety.

The three page memo is dated from July and one of the bullet points said “Outline transition plan for new CEO” and “discuss potential candidates and process.”

It is quite possible that Kilar himself wants to step down, but is willing to wait until a highly qualified replacement is found. But Kilar left a bad taste in the mouths of traditional media companies when he publicly criticized broadcast TV and said that viewers were burdened with too many ads. He also said that TV’s profit margins would start slipping. Kilar was rumored to be replaced ever since February 2011.

Ever since then Hulu Plus reported having over 1.5 million paying subscribers and replacing Kilar was no longer being talked about.